Historic Williamsburg

2. The Bruton Parish Church

Williamsburg, VA

Book Now

The original Bruton Parish Church was built in 1660. It was the first Anglican Church in the American Colonies. The precursor to this structure was a very crude church headed by the Reverend Robert Hunt, who had served as the chaplain on the three-ship expedition that founded Jamestown in 1607. Over the course of its long history and three reconstructions, Bruton Parish Church was used as a hospital in both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Its parishioners have been patriots and presidents, including George Washington, Patrick Henry, George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, and Richard Henry Lee. It was named for Bruton, a town in Somersetshire, England - the home of Governor William Berkeley and Virginia secretary Thomas Ludwell. The church's central location within the heart of historic Williamsburg demonstrates the authority of spiritual life and religion in those times. Colonists of all social rank were actually required to attend church twice daily, and failure to do so would result in the loss of a day's food. A second offense was punishable by public whipping. In the early days of the church, men and women sat separately, with men on the right side and women on the left. A special seating gallery was even built for William and Mary students. The Bruton Parish Churchyard is the final resting place for several prominent Colonists, including Governor Francis Fauquier, who often hosted Thomas Jefferson at lavish house parties when the future president was a student at The College of William and Mary. However, in the church' s early years, it was unusual for people to be buried in the churchyard. Most people were laid to rest on their own lands. The custom only changed after a church rector named Reverend Hugh Jones complained about traveling all the way to parishioners' homes to conduct funerals.